#maybe after this season i can make a part two with the new quotes?

[purinfelix]

joao x reader angst based off of that song Nothings New by Rio Romeo. Like maybe Joao is always ignoring reader in public or smthn. 🤭

nothing's new.

pairing: joao felix x reader (established relationship) summary: in which you learn dating a famous footballer comes with the price of secrecy warnings: angst, toxic relationships w/c: 790

a/n: ANONNN this request really hit me idk like it single-handedly brought my motivation to write back because even though it pains me, writing angst is just too fun sometimes .... its a little short but i hope you enjoy !!!

Before Joao, you had had an ex-boyfriend who, despite being nowhere near as famous, insisted on keeping you his little secret. Most of your ‘dates’ had consisted of you sneaking in through his bedroom window or accompanying him on weekly boy's nights which left you feeling uncomfortable at best and totally invisible at worst. Your relationship, if you could even call it that, was a part of your life you were glad was over. 

Telling Joao about this hadn’t been easy, but you had seen it as an obstacle to overcome as early on in your budding relationship as possible. And you had always planned to have a mature, serious conversation with him about it - but that was before it came slipping out one evening after multiple glasses of wine and several vodka cruisers. The two of you were sharing stories of awkward first dates, childhood crushes and all other things a young couple likes to get off of their chests over a dinner date, but before you realised it he was helping you stumble back to your apartment. 

You had thrown yourself onto your couch, chest heaving as you felt a heat radiating from your flushed face. Hands gently gripped at your ankles and you leant forward to see your boyfriend trying his best to take your shoes off for you whilst you tried your best to sit upright. 

“And he had the audacity to make it seem like my fault!” you mumbled, words slurring as your hand waved about angrily. 

“What an asshole,” Joao’s voice came from somewhere behind you now, probably as he was putting away your shoes by the front door. Even through your drunken haze you could hear the sincerity and sympathy in his tone, as you reached out a hand in his direction. 

“Well, there’s a reason I broke up with him,” you laugh weakly even though there’s no joke in your words. You hear the sound of his feet padding back over to the couch and suddenly his warm hand is in yours, caressing the back of it with his thumb. Even through your half-lidded gaze you can make out his eyes, which only look back at you with an earnest expression as he speaks. 

“I don’t understand how anyone could treat you like that.” 

It’s been months since then but his words still echo in your head now, as you make yet another unsuccessful attempt to reach out for his hand as he walks ahead of you. Not so ahead that you can’t keep up, but just enough that any onlookers and paparazzi can apss the two of you off as mere acquaintances, and not a couple. 

His hand dangles by his side and you yearn for nothing more than to take it in yours, the way you did that night and the way you still do most nights - but you have to remind yourself that most of these nights you spend in the privacy of your own home with your boyfriend. Because when you’re out, in the public eye, he stops being your boyfriend and becomes Joao Felix, beloved and renowned footballer who has yet to announce a romantic relationship to the public. 

You can’t remember exactly when it started being like this, but if you had to you’d put it sometime around the start of the most recent football season. It wasn’t like he had told you that your relationship would have to stay a secret explicitly, because he had all the implications in the world to do that with. He’d talk about other footballers and their relationships and constantly quote his agents advice of “not flaunting a relationship if he wasn’t absolutely sure it would last”. 

It hurt. There was no denying it. Watching your boyfriend oscilate between the most loving person you knew and treating you like a total stranger, and trying your best not to overthink how he played the role of a disinterested stranger a little too well. And it had taken you some time to get over the idea that maybe if you had been more famous it wouldn’t have to be like this. 

But still, you lived for those times, in the privacy of your own home, when your boyfriend would return. When you would be allowed to wear his jersey, his shirt, his arm around your shoulder and not feel immense guilt about it. When he would whisper sweet nothings as apologies, and kiss you like he meant it a thousand times over. When he would show his love to you like he had nothing left to lose, and your relationship felt real again. 

You could only wait and hope for a day when you weren’t the only one who knew about it.

[fan-goddess]

MY ANALYSIS OF THE SCENE BELOW

Gif and photo credit goes to @barbieaemond

A/N: First of all! I want to say these are personal opinions and ideas I have come up with and discussed further on! None of the things I will say are confirmed! I am merely speculating and debating theories! The start is less on topic but it gets more focused the more I talk.

I didn’t want to bother users by directly tagging but there users are there and in some cases links to their posts are added in bold. I also bolded certain quotes.

Okay, first of all I want to discuss the words they had playing when they showed this scene before we look into the scene itself. When listening to the voiceover I couldn't tell who it was who was saying the quote, but after putting on the captions I found its Larys Strong which is interesting given his character is pretty much the master of whispers. He's the man who knows everything on everyone the man behind the curtains as shown in season 1 when he manipulated Alicent to make her believe she was responsible for Harrenhals fire and therefore make her guilty enough for her to feel the need to keep Larys in kingslanding where hes at his most powerful. Why go back to Harrenhal and trust his birdies to bring him the information while he sits back when he can do the dirty work himself? That is a key aspect of his character which is why it makes the quote so noteworthy.

The quote itself though is this: The enemy without may be fought with swords. The enemy within is more insidious. Even the use of camera shots which are placed while he's saying that have meaning, as when he says the enemy without its showing Rhaenyra who has lost her daughter, her son, her crown and her throne. And when he says may be fought with swords Aegon shows to be possibly mourning the loss of Jaehaerys, and it's known that after finding out about blood and cheese Aegon went on a rampage killing all ratcatchers in the city. This is showing the shots they’re showing in this line have meaning, meaning we need to take into consideration the scenes/words they show next.

The shot saying The enemy within shows Daemon walking down in a dimly torch lit tunnel somewhere underground with no real indication of where he is. Perhaps they'll play around with blood and cheese by having Daemon come with them to show them the tunnels needed to get to Helaenas chambers, but that would not make sense as it's been highly discussed how Dyana (A maid shown in season 1 who had been a victim of Aegon) would be a part of season 2 for a few episodes, so its much more likely she'll be the one guiding blood and cheese to Helaenas chambers. Though I must say I feel Dyana will most likely be punished and killed for this as she has affectively been part of a plot to kill the innocent son of Helaena. I suspect her guilt will show, and maybe Alicent or maybe even Aegon himself can see that she knows something and questions her, leading to Dyanas confession and death.

Though the scene with Aemond as Larys says is more insidious, that is what caught my eye and no doubt brought you here. We can still that the whole line as part of the reasoning for the use of that scene, as I have discussed with @/anjelicawrites and we have thought of the possibility on this being Aemond crumbling down from his usual, "Tis I the younger brother who studies history and philosophy, it is I who trains with the sword, who rides the largest dragon in the world. It is I who should be-" This is a new side of Aemond. A version of him which we beleive is him finally directly suffering for his actions in the war, AKA killing Luke and indirectly causing the death of Jaehaerys. He looks as though he is becoming something that even he said he would never become as he even says to Criston, as Anjelica mentioned to me, that the two of them were people with morals. It's honestly quite an interesting take as by having the usually stoic Aemond break down in front of this woman, the identity of whom I will talk further on later, shows even he is not safe and that no one is truly immune to the grief of war and that sacrifices must be made by all.

Now we do not know the setting in where the photo takes place but if this truly is a brothel then maybe Aemond went back to the place which truly psychologically hurt him in order to enact punishment on himself, as what punishment can really be done after what Aemond has had to go through. Torture is not an option especially since he's already had to suffer through the major damages of loosing an eye which has already permanently damaged not only Aemonds vision but his whole nervous system. There is a post where a lovely individual goes through the medical side of Aemonds injury which I shall link here for those who would like to take a further look. Going to the brothels as well could be a sign of him becoming what he hates most of all. Aegon. Aegon has always been Aemonds biggest jealousy as he has everything Aemond wants. Aegon has the title of first born son, two eyes, a valyrian wife, heirs, even an actual inheritance and yet he throws it all alway and very easily wanted to when Aegon tried to convince Aemond to allow him to board that boat to wherever he was planning to run off too (Probably Lys when you think about all the people there who have silver hair and the violet eyes.) To see Aemond slowly develop into Aegon would be almost strangely poetic to see as he becomes the epitome of what he hates and wanted most, especially when its just the worst side of Aegon he becomes and not the good parts.

Now onto the context of the scene! The way Aemond is laid on the women suggests intimacy, as he has his hair put down naturally, has his sapphire eye on pure display, and most noticeably of all is naked as the day he was born. He also has his back to the person, which to him especially given his lack of vision on his left side, means he trusts them enough to be vulnerable. People are heavily implying that Aemond is in a brothel, but when you think about how Aemond reacted to the brothel owner in the first season, who it turned out to be the woman who SA'd 10 year old him, I do not believe he would go back there willingly with that much sense of vulnerability around those sort of people. But when you think about the idea of him going back there to punish himself for his misdeeds then it cannot be ruled out as a possibility. Though someone mentioned it didn't seem right how Aemond was the one in the nude while the woman he is laying his head on is still fully dressed, which is certainly odd especially when you remember that when we got a first glimpse of the whores they pretty much walked around the room stark naked with very little clothing. Perhaps Aemond walked in with her naked and demanded she dress in clothing that was either laying about or even brought her clothes for her to wear (possibly Helaenas or even his mothers) we will not know until we watch the scene on screen.

When discussing the position Aemond is in with the woman too like I said earlier defenitely gives an idea on intimacy, possibly bordering on motherly. We know that when Aemond returns from storms end and tells his family of what he had done, 'Queen alicent went pale when she heard what he had done, crying "mother have mercy on us all." nor was ser otto pleased. "you only lost one eye" he is reported to have said. "how could you be so blind?" In the books it is said that since Aemond did kill Luke with intention to kill, he was expecting to revieve pretty much a heroes welcome. But since they changed that and make Lukes death accidently Aemond will no doubt go back to kingslanding feeling grief and regret, with maybe some happiness that he finally in his own way got revenge back for Luke taking his eye. Going back to the almost motherly seeming position he is in, I suggested that perhaps Aemond went to the brothel for a sort of motherly comfort for what he has done as Alicent almost certainly will not be giving it to him for what he has done. Perhaps he went there to get comfort from women but not in a sexual way but in an emotional way so he can feel less at fault for what he has done, even when the physical reminder haunts him daily.

Some people have suggested this to be Alicent who he is with, and whilst that makes sense given the intimacy of the position he's in it does not make much sense to me as why would he be naked with his mother. That to me is more of an Aegon move than an Aemond move. Though it was also brought up how she possibly came into his chambers at night whilst he sleeps nudes which very well could be a possibility so I've decided not to rule out that idea.

Another possible idea on who the woman is is the brothel lady from season 1 who I talked about earlier as being the one who SA’d Aemond when he was 10 years old. When looking at how other people have viewed the picture and came across a user named @/scaly-freaks who gave great insight on this topic which I shall leave a link for here. Firstly they mention how of course CSA is a sensitive topic, I want to mention that first. Though what they further talked about what how in some cases a victim can subconsciously find traits of their abusers in romantic partners (which thinking about it may be why he went for Alys given that she was a much older woman similarly to the brothel worker) or they can return to their abuser even at an older age. I won’t discuss these two points further as consideration for those who may feel triggered with this topic and so I will just say to click on the link for the post and read the rest there. Like I said about Alicent, I will not rule out this brothel woman as a possibility especially as it’s supposedly been confirm that she has filmed some nude scenes for season two. We do not know if she will be the woman in the scene, especially since in the picture the woman is seen wearing clothing, she may have filmed some general brothel scenes involving Aegon. I read another user @/lovelykhaleesiii theory about who the woman was and she said it was the brothel women and that it was her, as possibly Aegon may have taken him to the brothel to celebrate Luke’s death as we’re apparently getting scenes of Aegon at the whore house. This would make a lot of sense given the evidence shown and makes it a lot more believable as to why Aemond is in a brothel in the first place as like I had mentioned earlier it’s a more Aegon thing to do not really an Aemond act. Also a user named @/magnificentdelusionr has spoken out about how apparently the woman Aemond is with and the brothel lady share the same scar, so my belief in this being the woman has increased I’ll tell you that now. Though like I said, I will not rule her out as a possibility. The evidence for the brothel is bellow. I think this may be the most likely theory honestly given all the evidence that has been shown for her to be the one Aemond is with.

Now, this third possibility for who the woman is technically unknown as we do not know who she is. The actress from the scenes shown appears to be a dancer and the theory as it shows in the photo shown bellow is that she may have been sent by Mysaria as a distraction for Aemond. But looking at the scenes (pictures of which are shown in the twitter post down bellow) I don’t believe the scene in the top right is of Aemond and her, purely from the fact Aemond does not wear rings and the fact it looks very similar to Daemons ring. Furthermore the woman looks as though to be a younger Aemma purely from her face shape so that is why I’ve decided to rule out this theory. I will admit that it’s a high possibility that Aemond would be seduced by a dragonseed, as in my mind Aemond wants tradition of his culture. If he could’ve he would’ve married Helaena, as those are the ways of his people and the culture he cares for. He also, as was shown in the scene where Driftmarks inheritance was called into question, is seen to have a great admiration for Daemon who has married two women of Valyrian blood and has fathered technically 6 children (two of which did not survive past the womb). Aemond in my mind if the war never happened would’ve 100% been a sort of student under Daemons wing so in my mind it is not hard to imagine Aemond as wanting to mimic Daemon in his own way, that way being bedding a Valyrian woman. Yet even so when looking at the dragonseed people believe to be the woman Aemond was with I believe she plays a different part of season 2, my belief is that her role of season 2 is to be one of the dragonseeds team black or team green hunt down to try and recruit, as it was said team black went around Westeros finding anyone of dragon blood and offering them a chance of a dragon. So I do not think she is who Aemond is with.

Now the final idea on who the woman is is Alys Rivers. I have seen people freaking out over the idea of Alys changing her looks to seduce Daemon, and that is who we see in the scene shown at the top left of the twitter post screenshotted above. But that is not Alys style as there is honestly less of a chance she could get shit done with Daemon. What there is though is a chance she could use Aemond given he was younger, more naive and ultimately more emotional and needing an outlet she is happy to become to ensure her freedom. Though in context with the scene, when discussing the idea about Alys with @/anjelicawrites, she brought up the idea about Alys possibly visiting Aemond in a dream. This lead me to think about her doing this which would ultimately force Aemond to come to Harrenhal and fulfil his ‘duty’ of coming to Alys and giving her a son of pale hair. I spoke to her saying how I like the idea of Alys visiting Aemond in his dreams, as this would further the witch allegations. With the context of the scene though I believe she could put this image of a finally calm Aemond who is finally at peace with himself in his mind and make him crave that part of himself. This would ultimately force him to come to Harrenhal in the future. One thing I do want to bring up is this connection that was brought to my attention by user @/boundlessfantasy. They made the connection about Alys possibility being the woman holding Aemond in a dream since Ewan said in the interview with TGC where they discussed three scenes from season 1, that the process of killing Luke haunts his dreams possibly hinting at a dream aspect of the season. This may end up being just a sarcastic comment, but if this actually a hidden Easter egg then I must applaud Ewan for being so sneaky. There is a screenshot of the interview down bellow with the line also a link to the interview here.

We cannot see the woman’s face therefore we cannot be sure on this woman’s identity, but out of these four main theories on the woman’s identity I think this is most strongest in my opinion. Though us could very well be some random women we’ve never seen in the series before so I very much am not exoecting my theories or anyone else’s to be particularly right. I accept them all (pretty much) but am expecting pretty much for the unexpected.

Some other theories though I would like to take into consideration is the idea it’s Helaena in the picture. I do like that idea as it brings further this idea of Helaemond, a ship I do enjoy personally, especially as they hinted at the idea that Aemond was the father of Helaenas children. The clothing the woman is wearing by the looks of it does seem to be a similar shade of blue that Helaena is usually seen wearing, and there are seem similarities in the hands (this idea was brought to my attention by @/lady-phasma who has talked on this idea on their account) Though I do suggest you click on the photos bellow to see them much more up close as then it’ll be a clearer image. Helaena and Aemond have been shown to be close together so it’s no surprise if he’d want to break down and show weakness with her. It’s a very intimate position as his back is to her showing he in his own way trusts the woman, making it believable this woman could be Helaena. I haven’t made this a main theory as there are some more compelling evidence for the other cases but still I will say this theory is quite strong especially when looking at other theories like the idea the woman is Alicent.

And the final theory on who the person is which I would like to take into consideration is that the person Aemond is with is Aegon. Now I’m sorry to have to break it to the Aegmond shippers but I do believe out of all these 6 theories I’ve talked about this one is least likely. For one it’s clearly a woman who Aemond is with, given the way the body is shaped, even when we cannot see her breasts. I will admit I have seen people though speculating it’s Aegon which is why I’ve decided to mention it and discuss it. One user named @/cyeco13 has done some incredible art of what it would look like if Aegon was the person Aemond was with and I shall link it here for those who wish to go see it (I do recommend it!)

Okay, out of the six Ive decided to rank those that I believe are most believable to be the woman!

1) The brothel madam

2) Helaena + Alys (as I’m tied with these theories not gonna lie)

3) Alicent

4) The unnamed dancing dragonseed woman in the trailer

5) Aegon

This is all I really can say on the matter as there are constant new theories daily and sad to say I cannot directly talk about them all. Still send me your favourite theories I am interested in hearing and if people would like debating them with me.

[ichxraaa]

the little things ft. nanase haruka

⤷ sometimes haru can´t help but wonder f you wud be better with someone else, someone... less boring.

⊱♥︎ is the free! fandom as dead as a ghost town? probably, do i care? not at all, i have been watching the last season and this little thing came up, i have many feelings about haruka nanase.

Haruka wouldn’t necessarily call himself boring, but if put side by side with his friends he could. He doesn’t have Asahi’s boldness, or Nagisa’s bubbliness, or Kisumi’s way of making anyone feel welcome, much less Rin’s ease to break the ice stating that even while having a girl’s name he is a boy, and of course he is far from having Makoto’s wit to start a conversation with any topic. 

And after the first awkward stage of your relationship breaks, the one from the first 3 months give or take he begins to worry about it in a way he simply didn’t care about before. 

He finds it odd, new. The past year he has been so confused and then hesitant to take your friendship from just that to a relationship that he never really thought how things would be once you were together. 

And it’s been bothering ever since he accidentally heard a conversation you had with a friend last week when he went to pick you up from the library. 

“…But seriously, what do you two even talk about?” She laughs, and you laugh with her. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say more than three words together”.

“You just haven’t been lucky then, but don’t worry about me, Haru is plenty interesting even when he is quiet”.

And your answer eases him, and yet he can’t help but be bugged about it in an intrusive way that shows up even when he is trying to eat. 

Right now you’re lying next to him. Your feet are on his lap and his are next to your hips. Sitting on opposing sides of the couch you’re both reading. He can see you’re really focused by the way your brows have furrowed. 

Is this really what you’d like to be doing right now? It is Friday night and even if he has practice tomorrow morning, you don’t. 

“Do you wanna do something else tonight?”

“Mmm?” Your eyes lift from the page with a curious look headed his way. There’s always something in the way you look at him, so openly and intensely yet kind and soft that has him nearly blushing.

“I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to go out or something…”

You smile, hand reaching for his calves and softly massaging the hard muscle. “Not really, do you want to go out?”.

“Not really”.

You laugh and put your book down on the floor while snuggling into the armrest. He inadvertently moves to give you room to accommodate yourself.

“Do you wanna watch a bad movie and order take out?” You ask.

Haru smiles, softly and  nearly missable from the untrained eye. 

Sometimes Haru worries you’re gonna get bored of him, he frequently quotes his grandma as a source of wisdom, he eats nearly the same stuff every day and he is obsessed with water. 

If only he knew those same particularities are such a big part of why you fell in love so quickly, why you went to bed dreaming of the day where you would be bold enough to tell him how you felt. Except he had beat you to it.

Sometimes he worries you’re gonna get bored of him, but fortunately right now his biggest concern is what kind of mackerel dish he’s gonna get for dinner.

[notoriousbeb]

Lighthouse Keeper Tweets

Part Two: November 2023 - January 2024

Back to Part One

Nov. 3, 2023 8:30 a.m. GMT

“And everything I love about you I shelve and store in my museum of the home.”

This is sweet. Same day, H is pictured in Vancouver with TR.

Nov. 9, 2023 4:40 p.m. GMT

“We will be reborn.”

TS plays TVFN and Labyrinth and wears Satellite stompers. Harry and TR in Vegas at Sphere for U2.

Nov. 14, 2023 4:15 p.m. BST

“Saint Venerius guide me true from heaven above to tidal blue”

Nov. 20, 2023 12:30 a.m.

“Seasons don't fear the reaper, nor do the wind, the sun or the rain”

These are lyrics from “Don’t Fear the Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult. Now, I know the lyrics to this one are about joint suicide and they’re depressing as hell, but I dig it because this song is my jam. Baby, I’m your maaaaannnn. La, la la la la. Anyways…suffice it to say. LK is up late and not doing great. On this date, Tay played “So It Goes…” And someone leaked “I’m Not Happy” (gee, whoever could it have been?!) on 11/21, “Pop Tart” on 11/22 and “Super Pretty” on 11/26.

Nov. 25, 2023 9 p.m. BST

“Singing if it’s meant to be then it’ll be I forgive it all as it comes back to me”

These are lyrics from Ethel Cain’s “Sun Bleached Flies.” In his replies, LK also makes it known that he loves “A House in Nebraska” by Ethel Cain, which has similar vibes. I love the line “I’ll forgive it all.” I hope that’s true for both of them. Another key lyric, the last in the song, is “it’s all I know and it’s all I want now.” Also, someone asked LK what he dreamed about and he said, “I was front row at a very empty concert, and then was running around the back of an empty stadium! Was very bizarre.” Not that I can make heads or tails of this, I just thought it was interesting and something a pop star would dream about versus a normie.

Nov. 28, 2023 12:45 a.m. BST

“To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.”

I've already posted about this one. Also, this is a Pride and Prejudice quote. Do I think H has read it? Maybe probably. Do I think he’s seen the Keira Knightly movie adaptation? 100%.

Dec. 3, 2023 6:15 p.m. BST

“What a sight for sore eyes”

Home for the holidays early? Maybe in Italy already?

Dec. 13, 2023 9:30 p.m. BST

“You can arm yourself with stolen lines, pretty chains and fancy wines, you can flick through magazines, and get your hair cut from the movie scenes, happy so it seems, but we both know.”

These are lyrics from “Juice” by Mount Zooka a band from Bristol. Obviously, this was Taylor’s birthday. Imma go out on a limb here and say mans was feeling some kind of way. Also, on this day, “Jesus Christ, Happy New Year” leaks. So.

Dec. 19, 2023 2 a.m. BST

“I’ve bitten my tongue until I’ve learned to like the taste of my own blood.”

This is after rumors were roiling post 12/13 that Taylor was engaged because of the ring from Keleigh Teller (before Keleigh shut them down on 12/21). Dude. Stop biting your tongue then and just say something.

Jan. 1, 2024 3 p.m. BST

“Let me lay dormant in the haze…”

That’s one way to ring in the new year.

Jan. 9, 2023 5:30 p.m. BST

“I'm not afraid of being the one with the ace card 'cause I'm just like everybody else. I leave my door closed shut in case you come trying to kick it down.”

These are lyrics from “Freight Yard” by The Garden This is either the day or the day before he leaves for the Caribbean with TR and others (Jeff, I believe). This is an angry-ass song. Interestingly, there are zero loved-up pics captured on this trip. And there are a whopping 17 HS leaks this day. Then more leaks on 1/6. Are the leaks the ace card? Did he not want to go on this trip? Afterwards, Harry is in LA from 1/6-16.

Jan. 14, 2023 7:45 p.m. BST

“I met you in my dream and I didn’t say a word, but we know who we were, and that was enough.”

This is so bittersweet. Also, it reminds of that line from "Sad, Beautiful, Tragic:" "In dreams, I meet you in warm conversation. We both wake in lonely beds, different cities."

Jan. 19, 2023 - 11:45 p.m. BST

"Red crosses on wooden doors. And if you float you burn. Loose talk around tables. Abandon all reason."

These are lyrics from Radiohead’s “Burn the Witches.” On this day, a photo of TR with Jeff Azoff at HS’s 6/13 Wembley show surfaced.

Jan. 23, 2023 11:45 p.m. BST

“Oh you’ve got some stitches and babe I need some fixing.”

At this time, both TS and HS were dealing with their respective stalkers.

Jan. 29, 2023 11:15 p.m. BST

“But she can do as she pleases, she's nobody's fool. And she can't be convicted, she's earned her degree. And the most she will do is throw shadows at you. But she's always a woman to me.”

These are lyrics from Billy Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman.” On this day, deepfake images of a nude Taylor Swift went viral on Twitter.

Ahead to Part Three

[bluebear-d]

Five act structure: reason to hope

I don't usually make posts on Tumblr, but i think after st4 maybe i should.

I agree with a lot of criticism for s4 and share everyone's pain. Hope all of you are well or at least getting there.

But here's something I've been thinking, so read on if you want to get another perspective or a little bit of hope in the magic of storytelling.

If the Duffers knew for awhile that they would have 5 seasons, they might have planned s4-5 together, a two-parter of sorts. So the reason s4 feels incomplete is because it is! And the reason it doesn't offer all the things the marketing implied is because those were meant for s5.

I think the Duffers are playing the long game using the 5 act structure. You can read about it on the internet, for example here is a good general article which i'm gonna quote a little.

I want to talk specifically about the final suspense, which is an important narrative tool occurring in act 4.

In 5 act structure, the forth act is where everything that can go wrong, does. It's the darkest before the dawn part, the part where we, along with the characters, lose all hope for things to end well.

It's like Sam's speech in The two towers: "how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

I think there's reason to assume this is the structure the Duffers are planning.

First of all, the show is 5 seasons long. What better way to structure it than with five acts?

Secondly, other seasons seem to fall neatly into this structure.

For example, s3:

If we go by this structure and try to imagine what s5 might look like, it also fits perfectly:

Sound familiar? After the brutal and incomplete s4?

So if we assume Stranger Things is supposed to have this structure (which i think is reasonable and highly probable), then s4 is exactly the season where everything is so wrong it seems to never be right again.

But a new dawn is just around the corner.

A new hope if you will.

So take heart.

p.s. I know we've waited three years for this and didn't get much of anything resolved. I know we're all having trust issues right now irt the Duffers' plan and writing, but i'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. We've loved this show for so long, it gave us a lot, we put so much passion, effort, skill and love into it that i think it's not entirely fair to anyone to just abandon all hope and judge an unfinished show.

We're all hurt and frustrated right now, and afraid to be hurt again in two years. But hope is hardly a bad thing. Remember: the story is not over yet, and some wonderful storytelling just might be still happening.

p.p.s. With byler and Robin x Vicky and Will's potential coming out it's also possible that it's just not allowed to make any of that explicit until well into s5. It can be part of the deal with netflix or something, for fear that anything more than "up to interpretation" will cost the platform a chunk of its viewership.

It's a sad possiblity to consider, but I'm speaking from experiences with other shows and fandoms.

Just as an example: the creators of Steven Universe faught tooth and nail for a lesbian wedding and a kiss on screen, WON THIS, but immediately got cancelled and faught some more for additional several episodes to conclude the series.

Obviously, they aren't the same shows, I'm not saying it's the same situation.

But stuff like this still happens, unfortunately.

[ideas-on-paper]

Monster Hunter Tri Diary, Part 2: Day cycles & Nighttime hunt in the Moga Woods

For previous entries, search for #monster hunter tri diary

Disclaimer: Text is paraphrased from my localization and might slightly deviate from the English version.

Moga Village (night)

Yay, we have day cycles! This is actually a feature that got scrapped in MH3U; while there were day and night versions of each map (probably a leftover from this mechanic), it was always day in Moga Village. In Tri, however, time advances in the village too, and you actually get to explore Moga at nighttime! (I believe the only previous time they tried something like this was in MH Dos, with the seasonal cycles.)

And look, fireflies! Or are those Thunder Bugs? (Given that this is Monster Hunter, probably Thunder Bugs.)

Also, there is a nighttime version of the village theme! I've never heard it before, due to there being no day/night cycle in 3U. It's a tad softer and more tranquil than the daytime version - I like it!

Chief's Son: "To restore the base camp, we need to dig new latrines, rebuilt the tent, cover the old latrines, delouse the bed..." Sounds like a really pleasant job. Might be easier to just throw the lousy bed into the trash and get a new one, though.

Okay, so the Chief’s Son tells me I have to report to him what I hunted in the forest, since he’s responsible for keeping tabs on that. Makes sense, since you kinda need to keep an eye on the monster population to prevent an imbalance in the ecosystem if you want to ensure a sustainable economy.

Actually, this reminds me... I remember there's an in-lore explanation that the Guild keeps records of the monster population in each area, to prevent certain species from going extinct and others from growing too large in number. (I think the only time they integrated this into the gameplay was in MH Dos; there was some kind of "bounty system", and the more often you hunted a certain monster, the less money you'd get for it.) So, are the reports I give to the Chief's Son sent to the Guild as well? (I suppose that would be like constant surveillance; but maybe, that's the exact intention behind it.)

At first, I thought the Jumbo Pearl might be a reference to MH Dos (since the village from that game is called Jumbo). However, after checking the Japanese item name, the kanji indicates that it's just an extraordinarily large pearl, rather than a pearl found near/associated with Jumbo Village. (Pity, though; that would've been so cool.)

Chief's Son: "Go report to my dad, will you? He LOVES reports." Okay - well, at least that shows he's taking his job seriously.

Chief: "There are no hopeless causes... Just lost confidence!" That's actually a damn good motivational quote right there.

Gossipy Lady: "It's obvious whenever the Chief is in a pensive mood. He stands at the left pier and gazes out at the sea." I wonder if there's a story behind this habit...

Guild Sweetheart: "The good news is that the Guild apparently has completely forgotten about us. So, you're not missing out on anything!" Well, I guess that's the bright side of it... xD Still, a bit odd if you consider the Guild is technically responsible for protecting the village - all they do is send one rookie hunter here and that’s it. They don’t even bother helping the villagers repairing the damage in any other way.

Outfitter: ""No weapon is perfect. Every one has its strengths and weaknesses." Maybe grandpa was right after all..." Well... A fault confessed is half redressed, or so they say. xD

The shy kid tells us about a goblin with a mask living in the Moga Woods (his older brother also says he's "constantly talking nonsense about an elf"). If my memory serves correctly, that has to be Cha-Cha.

Blacksmith: "I'm gonna to tell you - but just this once!" Except when you cycle through the dialogue by repeatedly talking to him, you can select "yes" again. xD

The Bowguns are completely different in Tri. Instead of the usual two classes (Light and Heavy Bowgun), you have to assemble your Bowgun out of individual parts (stock, frame, barrel), each influencing the stat values and overall performance. I guess this was done in an attempt to make the Bowguns more customizable, so you can have a sort of in-between as opposed to just light/heavy. I'm not a Gunner myself, but I think the idea is kinda cool; ultimately, they didn't stick with it, though.

Btw, there are some weapons that are completely missing from Tri: Dual Blades, Hunting Horn, Gunlance and Bow are all unavailable in this game (despite being available in Freedom Unite).

Also, the Switch Axe and the Long Sword are not available from the start; you have to unlock them later on (you have to do the 3-star Urgent Quest to hunt a Gobul to get access to Long Swords). I was a bit confused when I saw that I couldn't make any Long Swords, since I was sure I heard they existed in Tri. However, the selection of Long Swords in this game is very limited: Minus the weapons from online events, there are only seven Long Swords you can make in the game. That's right: seven. A bit of a bummer for me as a Long Sword main, especially since there are not even blades for every element. (There isn't a single Ice Long Sword you can forge offline.)

So, seems like I'll have to get a little creative here - I think I'll make myself a Great Sword when I get the chance, since that's a weapon I'm at least moderately accustomed to. I also might try out a Switch Axe against Gobul, since you already unlock these after the 2-star Urgent Quest. (Can't say I'm looking forward to it, though. xD)

Btw, I don't know if it's just a translation error in my localization, but when explaining weapon sharpness, the smith says orange is sharper than yellow which is sharper than green. Of course, it's the other way around, with yellow being sharper than orange and green being the sharpest. So, this is a small pitfall for anyone who might be new to the game - just wanted to mention it.

"Fuel for the furnace, chemicals for forging... All of that costs money, so you gotta pay something." I think this is the first time I've seen it mentioned that the smithies in MH are using chemicals to make weapons/armor. Guess that makes sense, since a lot of the equipment pieces are composed of both organic and inorganic materials, so it probably wouldn't hold together otherwise.

"My life's goal? To forge a weapon beyond anyone's imagination! I've tried again and again, but failed. One day, I'll succeed - just you wait!" Well, as long as you have a goal and dedication, you can achieve anything. Better luck next time! :-)

I really like the smith in general - such a lively and spry guy. ^^

What the?! How did the smartass kid get into my house? Who let you in? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMPHOUSE?!?

"Did you know you can skip conversations? That way, you can skip boring conversations with people you don't even want to listen to. Very handy!" I wish this was a feature in real life.

"But some things you'll get to hear only once. And then you'll say: "Oh no! Why did I press the cancel button? Now I can never hear this again! Buhuuuu!" Unironically me every time I want the text to scroll faster and accidentally end up missing dialogue. xD

"Oh, some conversations you can't skip, like important village info and lectures from your mom..." Pity - I'm sure everyone would appreciate the latter. xD

"Do you believe there is life on the moon?" I dunno, kid - I've never read sci-fi literature from the MH universe myself.

"Why don't hunters use their huge airships to fly to the moon? Did no one get this idea before?" Well, maybe they did - I just doubt they got very far. xD

Yay! I can actually give my Poogie a name! (Actually, I think this is the first time in the series you can do this.) Though it's curious that the list includes both male and female names - is Poogie's gender just whatever you want it to be?

The cuddle timing for the Poogie is WAY more lenient than in Freedom Unite (seriously, that was hardcore).

Moga Woods (night)

"Hello, it's me, the Chief's Son! Not Junior! Nobody calls me that!" Yep, definitely daddy issues. (Nice to see the Chief's Son inherited his dad’s telepathic skills, though.)

"Oh, nice attack! Maybe you're not such an inexperienced hunter after all..." Shit, they've caught onto my ruse - they know I'm too good to be a noob! xD

It will never not be funny to me that the "So tasty!" when you make a Well-done Steak is the only voice line they ever bothered to record for the old games. In fact, it was so important that they even recorded it in different languages. xD

I appreciate how there's a brief display of "MAX" at the end of the stamina gauge - that way, you know when you're at max stamina.

Okay, so the monster list also works differently in Tri. Instead of buying the books with the info at the item shop, you have to gather the infos yourself while being out in the field. It feels a bit like a spiritual predecessor to MH World; I guess they did this to add more to the "exploration" feeling. It's a little tricky to do though, so I understand why they got rid of it. (You have to open the monster list in the menu, point the Wiimote at the monster and then add the info to your list via drag-and-drop. I can imagine this is going to be rather difficult with large monsters, since you kinda have to pay attention that you don't die while gathering data. xD)

Honey: "Full of nutrients, but indigestible in this form." What? Last time I checked, honey was a perfectly digestible type of food. What makes MH honey different?

Okay, so I've picked up an item called "Firedouse Berry". It increases fire resistance, apparently. The logical conclusions would be that there are other berries in Tri to counter the other elements (water, thunder, ice). Either way, I've never seen these in any MH before.

I’ve always wondered what the "houses"/windows carved into the cliffs of Area 7 are. I suppose this is what the Head Farmer meant when he was saying that the statue in the cave had something to do with the "forest ruins". Is this where the ancestors of the sea people lived? If so, why are these great buildings in ruins? What brought about their demise?

You see, it's the little things that always kept me fascinated in Monster Hunter. You can find these ancient ruins in all of the old MH games, but it’s never explained who built them. It's like a dark mystery of the past, constantly looming over you - and perhaps, a silent threat that this might happen again.

It's funny how the Jaggi were my literal introduction to Monster Hunter. If I hadn't read an article about there being "raptors" in MH4U - despite the Jaggi looking more dilophosaurs with their frills (which is ironic, since they're the bird wyverns that don't spit poison) - I probably wouldn't have picked it up. xD

After playing Lies of P for so long, I have to get used to MH combat again. Although I adjusted the controls of LoP so it was basically the standard MH controls (because I literally can’t play with anything else xD), the combat itself feels very different. MH’s is a lot more mobile in comparison, involving lots of dodging and repositioning; since there’s no target lock-on (targeting for large monsters only got introduced in MH3U if I remember correctly), you can’t just lock onto your target to circle around them.

Also, I don't think there’s a pause button in Tri? A bit strange since Freedom Unite had one, but I guess you're supposed to use the Wii Home button for this.

There was a young Aptonoth in Area 1, probably the one who fled from Area 3 when I killed its parents (cool that the monsters move to other areas, though!). I briefly contemplated to let it live, but then I told myself "well, it's probably not gonna survive without its parents anyway" and did the mercy kill. (I'm such a cold-blooded murderer, guys. xD)

One thing that never fails to make me laugh is how there are wooden struts sprouting from the ground if you place the BBQ spit on uneven terrain. xD (That BBQ spit is so important, it even gains the magical ability to support itself if need be.)

So, in summary, I killed 15 Jaggi, while also gathering some stuff along the way. I would've needed 30 resource points at minimum, I delivered 90 - so, thrice as much. Well, there's no kill like overkill. xD

Moga Village (day)

As far as I know, 3rd Gen is the first to have its own kinds of fertilizers for mushroom and insect farming spots on the farm (Shroom Germ and Funky Pheromones, respectively).

Dung: "That's right: Monster poop. The odor reveals (too) much about the monster's diet." Must be really pleasant to carry that around in your pockets (or store it in your item box). xD

The item description says you can only sell Pittance Fangs for "pocket change" - that "pocket change" being 180z per piece, which is quite a lot by early game standards. (I've been wondering about the name, though; could it be that monster parts like fangs, teeth etc. are used as currency in some places in the MH universe? Is it custom to give these kinds of fangs to beggars so they can buy themselves something for it?)

Okay, the smith now wants me to bring him some Iron Ore to prove that I’m “worthy” of being his customer - at least he was so kind as to lend me his Mega Pickaxe for it. (Remember, kids? The time when you still had to carry pickaxes and bug nets with you to gather ore and insects?)

Village Chief: "All wyverians are hard to please. And this one is the worst. I know him since my early youth. I got into more brawls with him than the sky has stars!" Sounds like the Chief and the smith were best friends. xD It's charming to see the Chief reminiscing about his youth, though.

Chief: "My son still has a lot to learn... But you have to overcome barriers to grow." That's true - ngl, the Chief does have some pretty deep quotes.

Guild Sweetheart: "Drum roll... The Guild says: absolutely nothing!" Man, they sure are taking their time... Okay, how about this: I'm gonna go out to get some Iron Ore for the smith (and for myself), and you see if you can get through to the Guild in the meantime, alright? Don’t worry, sweetie - I’ll be right back!

To be continued

[fannibalcascade]

hello ! this is abt your bryan post.. after i finished the show i was curious how the writer viewed his own ending so i read up a bit abt it and tbh what icked me was the bryan quotes abt him calling will "a straight man" i thought that was weird coming from a gay creator who wrote a love story between two men to just also flee his own storyline or water it down. tbh it made me glad not to have a s4 ? because i thought mmh i dont trust this showrunner to write anything past this.. your post made sense to me tbh, maybe he has this idea of the gayman falls in love w straightguy thats just so 2010s unhappy gay movie core etc and honestly meh

I personally don't view it as a "love story," but you don't have to follow my interpretation; you are free to interpret the show however you want. The question arises about the relationship when one side is kept ambiguous, and Will's feelings are unclear. What Bryan says and does are two different things. He loves to tease the audience, making promises that aren't fulfilled. He knows he will never get a different fandom like this, so he uses every opportunity to keep us together. As a queer person, I personally take offense at how he says that Will is straight but in love with Hannibal. Words have meaning, Bryan. What Bryan portrayed here is a classic case of unrequited love, and as per my memory, he used to say that Hannibal will always have to work hard for Will, implying there's a chance that Will won't be that responsive. I was never enthusiastic about s4 or more because I always felt that Bryan was going down the separation road. With SOTL and how he said Will would be happy in s5 and out of his mind in S4, the future of "murder husbands" doesn't look so bright. Another thing to add is how he gaslighted the fandom when asked about the sexual part of the relationship, saying that's a fanon thing, when he himself encouraged explicit art. With all these things, how can you be excited for new seasons?

[improbable-outset]

𝐀 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞: 𝐑𝐞𝐝

Hank J. Wimbledon x gn!Reader

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 2.7K

MadCom Masterlist | AO3 | 🅱️laylist

𝐓𝐖 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐖: Non-cannon Hank bc I said so 🤌🏽🤌🏽Yandere themes, Obsessive behaviour, some psychological horror, serious gore, graphic descriptions of injuries, injury marks during work, mental asylum settings, cursing (sorry can’t help myself) a brief description of mental disorders and slight manipulation at the end - please be mindful of the triggering content.

𝐀/𝐍: Okay, so I’ve got the Yandere themes from @saltymongoose head cannons here and here. (Look salty, I would submit this to you but I have no idea how submissions work) Of course, reader isn’t a Player! But a Doctor! I put my own twist to it so it will match the story line. Yeah it gonna be a little bit more… violent than wholesome. Also you don’t understand the amount of research I had to do to perfect this 😭 watching a documentary of inside a psychiatric hospital and read a handful of articles. Also after watching season 4 of Stranger Things I kinda grew an interest on asylum AU’s - I’ll give you a small spoiler for this fic quoted from the show ‘what have you done?’😟 (also want to thank @deimosed for those sweet words from my last Hank fic)

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: After working your way up your career ladder, you’re excited to be offered a place in Nevada’s notorious psychiatric hospital as a full time psychiatrist. This is a massive opportunity for your career. But things aren’t so glamorous and rewarding as it seems when you start to discover the inside works of the hospital with their dark and twisted system to ensure everyone, especially the employees, abides by their extensive rules and policies. You start to learn that the hospital's high reputation may not be so organic. Meanwhile, you develop a secret admirer amongst one of your patients who will do anything to be alone with you and to have you for himself (and maybe save you) - even if it means breaking a few rules.

I’d let these people bleed out if you told me you liked the colour red.

The janitors must’ve used some strong cleaning products again. Waking up to the bitter-sweet smell of disinfectant is not really the ideal way to start your morning. After a few inhales, it starts to get into your head and makes you nauseous. It’s not a scent that you would call ‘homely’.

Fortunately, it does fade as the day goes by but the pungent smell of old piss quickly replaces it by late afternoon and then the vicious cycle starts again in the morning. The sickeningly sweet smell really reflects the cryptic ambiance of the building.

But for patients like Hank, who has stayed in the hospital for a while, the stench doesn’t bother him. It does start to grow in you to the point where you forget what fresh clean air smells like.

Hank takes another glance at the clock for the umpteenth time in the last couple of hours. It was coming up to that time. He can feel his heart accelerating as the seconds pass by. Since he’s all ready, he can sit and watch in front of the clock until finally hearing those footsteps echo in the hall, getting louder as they step closer. Two nurses reach his room, both in their scrubs and ready to escort him out.

“The doctor wants to see you Hank, let’s get going,” the taller of the two says.

They both lead him to another room. This isn’t anything new to Hank. Having to go to the checkup rooms regularly to see the doctor was part of the routine. More footsteps could be heard and immediately he knew it was you. He has your footfall rhythm memorised. Even outside the checkup sessions, he can easily recognise you walking from a distance away. He watches as you make your way in - a warmth reflecting from your eyes with a smile.

“Nice seeing you early today Hank, did you sleep well?” Your voice is amplified over everyone else’s; it’s sweet, hypnotic and endearing to the ears.

All of his senses heighten as soon as you’re near (or as he watches you from afar). As you step closer towards the seat opposite him, he catches the familiar soapy aloe vera scent from you. It’s refreshing and it's definitely more pleasant than the sterile smell of the hospital. Whenever his session ends, he feels like he can still just capture the scent lingering a while longer the minute you leave the room. You’re just so fascinating with how you approach things and how you approach him.

You start to write on your clipboard the date and his name. Hanks eyes are stuck staring at your hand holding the pen. He secretly wishes that you would accidentally misplace or leave your pen one day in the room before you go to your next patient so he could keep it for himself - something that you touched and held onto everyday and probably has your sweat and fibre on it. But unfortunately, due to previous cases of patients using pens as weapons and poking peoples eyes out, doctors and anyone else using a pen has to make sure they keep them safe with them.

“Your mood has definitely improved in the last few weeks Hank, I’m pleased to see that,” your praise causes a wave of euphoria to surge through him. He wants all of your praises. All of the sweet words that come out of your lips. He knows he wants you for himself and wishes the nurses weren’t in the room with the two of you so he can be all alone with you.

The check up comes to an end and you finish it off with “I’ll see you next week Hank,” before you leave to go off to your next patient while he stays in the room with the two nurses beside him a little while longer. It’s easy to forget that he’s not the only one you’re caring for especially with how he’s so engrossed in the moment.

But the thought of you looking after other people besides him, giving them your attention and your time to them doesn’t sit right with him. Actually it enrages him. They don’t deserve you. You need someone who you can feel safer with. These people don’t have the facilities for that. The more he thinks about it, the harder his fist clenched to the point where the knuckles were turning white. Fortunately, he’s able to keep this heated anger in control quickly since he’s still on the fucking medication that slowing his brain .

But Hank is not going to allow their luck to run any longer with you…

Working in a mental hospital isn’t something that you nor your colleagues discuss outside of work. As far as people outside are aware, you’re just a doctor working and giving care in a private hospital. Confidentiality is strictly enforced - anything that happens in the building stays within the four walls.

You have to wear full sleeves to hide the bruises that you get from handling some of the violent patients. The nurses always have it worse since they do interact with them more but that doesn’t mean yours aren’t visible enough to raise some concerns. You do try to scrutinise the job and see the rewarding sides to it though, despite how exhausted you are already.

That burnt soreness on your tongue is still there from the hot coffee you finished just earlier and what's worse is that after rummaging through your work bag, you found that you’re fresh out of breath mints. Well shit then - you’re stuck with having coffee breath until your tight lunch break. Coffee breath was the last thing that you’re concerned about though, with the busy schedule you have today. You just completed the inpatient care and are now providing care to the outpatient department.

Your clipboard is under your tight grip as you’re filling in the details. Sitting opposite you is Peter, your last morning patient. He has a skinny and pale frame and just like most of the other patients, he has a buzz-cut hairstyle.

“So, it’s been a good month since I prescribed you your new medications for your schizophrenia. How has it been affecting you?” Your eyes are still glued to your clipboard.

“It’s been better than the old one, I don’t have any severe side effects,” Peter replied, possessing a strong southern accent.

“That’s perfect, but I will still need the nurses to check your blood sugar levels from time to time. High cholesterol is one of the side effects of this new medication,” You scrape your tongue with your front teeth briefly, trying to soothe the soreness as you speak while mentally reminding yourself to push through and that this is your last patient before your break.

Out of nowhere, the sound of someone screaming could be heard coming from a few rooms away. It's normal to hear some patients yelling occasionally whether it’s them resisting medication or their mood swings going haywire. After all, one of the biggest conflicts between patients and doctors is medication. But this doesn’t sound like someone was resisting. None of the screaming that you’ve heard sounded like this. This is more shrilling, you can almost hear the fear in their cry before it cuts off with crunching sounds and gargling despair and then it stops.

“Doc…?” Peter’s voice shakes as he speaks. He's now starting to hyperventilate - a bad sign that his anxiety is accumulating.

“Everything will be okay, I’m sure the nurses got it handled,” in truth, you were pretty tense yourself but you had to keep your composure and stay calm, for the sake of your patient.

One of the many vital rules that is heavily emphasised is that healthcare staff must leave their patient in a healthy and calm condition. Anything else is a sign of inadequate treatment and can result in a strike. You’re already on your first one and the punishment you faced was just about bearable. You can’t afford another strike on your record - the week has barely started. Really, that should encourage you to prioritise your patient but you can’t help but wonder what was going on out there. It doesn't help when you hear more screaming, this time it’s a masculine voice and you could just about make out what he’s saying before it stops.

“Please don’t hurt me! Where are the fucking nurses ah-!” There’s a painful howl before it cuts off silent again. You and Peter stay quiet waiting for any more disturbing sounds but the silent prologue for a full minute.

“Will it make you feel better if I take a look outside?” He nods, still staying quiet from shock. You’re not going to leave the room since you can’t leave Peter unattended, they’re watching what you’re doing in a control room through a monitor, so you just stick your head out the door and scan the wide hallways. Of course, you can’t see anything because it was coming from one of the other rooms.

The temptation of just leaving the room is drilling in your head. For God's sake, why would they be focusing on you and watching you do your job when they should be focusing on whatever the hell was going on out there?

It seems like they read your mind because the emergency alarms start blaring through the perpetual halls with red lights flashing. You’ve never heard the emergency alarms go off, not until today at least and that was enough for you to exit the patient room. You can hear Peter calling after you, asking where you’re going or what you’re going to do. You don’t really know what you're doing, you're just following these intrusive thoughts, jogging lightly and just hoping it’s not the worst. Whatever the worst may be.

There's more uncontrollable screams that continue to echo through the halls sounding more distant as it bounces off the walls but with still the same level of fear etched in their voices if not, more. The ringing of the alarm is still going off, sounding more urgent and louder. Your head starts to spin as you replay that one sentence in your head…

I’m sure the nurses got it handled.

You stop for a moment and look back at how far you’ve gone - Peter's room feels like miles away now when you’ve only walked a few metres. You have a sense of discomfort that seems to erupt inside you. A strong feeling that something was going to happen. Before you could turn back to continue you felt something hit the back of your head causing a sharp pain shooting through your skull. Your body collapses forward and slowly and you feel your consciousness slip away and vision fade into blackness.

There’s a sharp inhale before you feel your senses coming back to you slowly as you open your eyes. It took you a moment to gather yourself together and remember your surroundings. There’s no more screaming or alarms - nothing but the sound of your pulse hammering in your ears. The halls are still flashing red. Not good. Your vision is still a little blurry and your heads throbbing like mad. Stupid concussion. You still don’t know who the fuck just slammed the back of your head like that.

What’s worse is you don’t know how long you were knocked out but if it’s this quiet, something is definitely not right. What happened to Peter? Shit. With extra precaution and making sure you don’t collapse again, you lift yourself up from the floor and make your way to Peter’s room with wobbly steps. The room isn’t that far for you but your body is still weak and moving painstakingly slow. When you reach his room, you almost throw up at the sight inside.

Someone got to him before you could because now he’s on the floor with his mouth stretched open so wide, the cheeks are torn out. Despite Peter’s thin face and prominent cheekbones, you could still see the fleshy meat from his cheeks that had been plumped out. There was no way someone could do this with their bare hands. Some sick person must’ve used a metal instrument to rip this poor man’s face.

His arms and legs were completely popped out of their joints and dislocated. The crunching you heard earlier must’ve been the sound of bones joints snapping from elsewhere. His gown is now stained with blood from his mouth. You’ve seen a lot of gory scenes at your job but nothing like this. You can’t stomach the sight any longer so you leave feeling utterly repulsed and a little guilty that you can’t do anything. Why did you have to leave him alone? You were hoping the image would leave your mind but it’s already locked in making you feel queasy.

You don’t know where you’re going since there’s no lead and the screaming has stopped. There’s a feeling of emptiness and torment hovering around you as you stiffly walk through the halls, closing in on one of the ward rooms - you weren’t prepared to see inside so when you catch a glimpse of one of the patients on the floor, the squeamish feeling inside your stomach returns.

Inside you could see a few more patients on the floor, arms and legs dislocated as well as their heads being twisted until their necks were snapped. Their faces aren’t mutilated like Peter’s but you could see some of them have holes on the side of their heads where their ears used to be and are now replaced with a crimson pool that dripped down their faces and on the floor. Clearly whoever did this, wanted to get the job done fast.

Each room you pass, you see more and more limp forms littering the floor, not only patients but the healthcare workers there as well - doctors and nurses. It’s all out of control. There are bloody hands smeared and printed on the wall too. The more you continue to walk, the more alone you feel knowing that the people you care for and work with are gone. You feel like you’re surrounded by ghosts - spirits just floating around you. You push your way through the double door and make your way to the main reception, now fully bracing yourself for the worst yet to come.

Hank can feel the heated vexation across his face and the blood rushing in his ears as he gawks down at the last dead body with pride. He was sure that he managed to wipe out everyone in this poor excuse of a hospital. It’s not like it’s a big building so surely after 2 hours, he can wrap it up and call it a job well done. But it’s not complete until he finds you again. Find your sleeping form that is, since he had to knock the fucking day lights out of you. You don’t deserve to see what he did - he’s hoping you’re still knocked out before he retrieves you.

Before he could turn around, there’s the sound of the heavy double doors squeaking as you pushed your way with aggression. The hostility quickly melts away from you as you stare intensely at him, frozen in place from shock. Your mouth starts to quiver and Hank notices a few tears just spilling from your eyes.

“What have you done?!” Your voice breaks with distress. Hank steps a little closer, the metal pipe slips out from his bloody hands as he walks towards you. You’re always easy on the eye but now the glow that would always radiate from you is flushed out. The eye bags under your eyes is more visible now and the rims of it are now red from your salty tears. You look raw and Hank finds himself absolutely adoring this state of you. Probably more now than ever.

He still doesn’t understand why you’re so upset though. Why do you cry for these people? You didn’t mean anything to them. They just used you as a product for your intelligence and for their advantage. Of course you don’t understand that now but one day, you will be grateful for what he has done.

And that’s a promise.

Dividers by @maysdigitalarts

I usually rely on Grammerly to check my spellings and grammar but I’m literally typing this on my phone as I speak so there might be some errors.

[moonjxsung]

okay okay we're leaving annoying shit in the past year so i wanna start the new year by asking you *drum roll* what were your favorite fics you wrote last year? you can make a top 5 if you wish, pretend you're in top 5 breakdown by watcher (this reference will not make sense to most ppl probably but i had to make it)

also maybe some of your favorites or The™️ favorite quote you wrote? (maybe this one is impossible to answer bc you wrote like 500k words last year sorry)

can't believe my first ask when you're back is me being like fuckin oprah w you

so happy you're back bestie let's alllll have a good 2024 even if it's only in our silly blogs online

-🐟

Oh my goodness I love this QUESTIONNNN you had me scrolling through my own masterlist and reading my work again for this 🥹🫶

Okay my TOP 5 FAVORITE FICS……. This was simultaneously a hard and an easy question at the same time but:

1. When the Rain Stops

2. Where the Storm Looms

3. Seasons

4. Biker!Minho drabble

5. VOYIS + B&B

I know most people are going to wonder where Lost in Translation is and I LOVE that fic, but weirdly it took me a very short amount of time to write so it never quite stuck with me like the others did! WTRS/WTSL series was my favorite series by far, it was just supposed to be porn with a plot and I literally spun a wheel with some options to determine where the characters would have sex, AND to pick which member it was going to involve 🤫 I was so reluctant when I got Minho bc I really wasn’t familiar with writing him but I think it created a completely new version of him in my mind and the character and world building just wouldn’t stop once I started it. It was also my most highly requested fic for a part 2 considering part 1 had a severe lack of resolution and I just fell in love with the characters (I think I was extremely Minho biased for weeks after finishing it lmao). Seasons was a challenge for me but I always love writing about Felix and I think putting myself in the headspace of that little town was super healing and I was SO sad when I reached the end of it. Biker Minho smut was probably my most self-fulfilling one regarding ✨spiciness✨ and maybe my most requested drabble for a part 2 (highly considering it if you guys want it? 👀) he’s just so FINE….. and last but certainly not least was VOYIS, I actually researched a lot of art techniques and I listened to a lot of classical music while writing this one so it was just an experience! I was immediately intrigued at the request itself, which is why it’s tied with Begged and Borrowed as they were the two I was so interested in I wrote them at the same time, literally switching back and forth between documents 😅

And a few favorite quotes (in no particular order):

1. “How could a higher power accept the felicitations of the same man who’s been fucking you behind the groom’s back? Within the four walls of which transforms hate to love, and sin to virtue? What a waste, Minho concludes again. What a waste to have loved this deeply, and to pacify your fears only for another man to reap the benefits. Try as Jung might, he’ll never know you the way Minho does. And the vast trench that separates you from Jung, one which paints a clear divide of friendship and his superficial love for you- that will remain permanent, too.”

- Begged and Borrowed

2. “And if you were to climb out of your body and paint this exact moment, all you would see are an indistinguishable, amorphous set of limbs that seem to dissolve into each other like hues of paint on a palette. Two colors swirling around to make one, the two of you like primary colors that create endless possibilities when mixed together like this, offspring of a hundred different shades, painting the darkened studio around you with your yearning for one another.”

- Visions of You in Solitude

3. “Except maybe simple wasn’t the solution all along- for once, he’s determined to bask in all your complexities, even if it means sacrificing everything he left the city to pursue.”

- When the Rain Stops

4. “But he feels it- he feels you, in this city, at every corner he turns. He sees traces of you in the people who smile at him when he passes them by. He sees you in the people who hold doors open for him, the baristas who make foam hearts in his lattes every morning, even the businessmen when they catch themselves admiring the beauty of the buildings on a smoke break. He sees you in all things good, when he’s reminded momentarily that the world has more to offer than boxing him in the confines of a dark bar out in the suburbs. And while he’s not completely in love with life all over again, it’s a start.”

- Where the Storm Looms

5. “The phenomenon begs the question- had the fire ever really stopped? Were you ever in the process of mending if not wailing like this, your vulnerability on display for the world to see as your walls are finally let down? Is this what it means to feel?”

- Seasons

Thank you for these questions, it’s good to be back 🫶💫 I love you! Let’s have an amazing 2024 🫶🩷💓

[pessimisticshapewithablog]

My personal COTL headcanons - Gods

#1

Spoilers for Relic of the old faith below

1.

Gods in COTL are singular entities that exist uniquely in a single time and universe. Ik in some media, like transformers, 'gods' are multidimensional, and exist all at once in every conceivable universe, sharing a single consciousness across all forms. But something about the lands of the old faith stated to have been separated from the rest of the world makes me think that gods made there are tied to that place. That iteration of those lands. Like plants growing in an isolated location; over time those plant become so specific and specialized to their environment that the CAN'T survive/exist anywhere else. A god is a being of great power and influence but, only in one place and universe. Other gods will form and exist to fill niches within their own universe.

11.

Gods cannot reproduce with other gods to birth new gods. Idk why but this just makes sense to me. Kudaii has a quote: Hatched were we, in the bosom of the last of the First Gods. To bestow Godly instruments, and yet never wield them ourselves. As nature demands. "Nature" in this place seems to involve a sort of checks and balances when it come to distributing power in COTL. Two powerful beings coming together to make more power beings, i feel would break some fundamentals rules of physics like conservation of energy and/or mass. Ik it's a video game but the magic system is also heavily inspired by real world beliefs like tarot card readings, alchemy and Occultism soo...

111.

The biggest threat to Gods in COTL is/was other gods. I made this realization after learning about Chemach and her "relics", which are bits and pieces of gods and their possessions. Gods and their possessions have the capacity to hold power and abilities like batteries. Their power can easily be wielded by another, making them targets for other gods wanting to expand their ability repertoire without having to do all the work of amassing said power. This ties back to my second headcanon. The world of COTL is a closed system cut of from the outside world. There is a finite amount of power/energy that can be gained within this system.

1v.

Being a God in COTL is more than just amassing power, they need a 'purpose'. A focus, something that they are passionate enough about to embody completely. IRL gods were used to explain natural phenomena like the wind and seasons. It seems as though it is possible to become a god in this world by will alone. Dedicating oneself to a single 'purpose' can grant you untold power over that purpose. I have a headcanon that some of the NPC we meet are minors gods or gods in the makings. For example, The Fox. He has some of the abilities of the bishops, like telekinesis and teleportation. His 'sphere of influence' seems to be night, darkness, predation/ murder. A fear most creatures have, of something lurking in the dark, waiting for chance to feast. He will not attack those he deems an equal but is able to easily overpower the Lamb when they tried to save Ratau. This reverential fear has given him power.

v.

There is an order Gods known as the Old Gods. I believe these were ancient eldritch primordial being that existed before time immemorial. They may be equivalent of the Titans from Greek mythology, beings that represented forces of nature like Gaia and Uranus. Whether they are gods or just powerful ancient creatures is a mystery. Cults and religion form around the old gods and take many forms of worship. Some of these old gods are sentient but, not always.

v1.

The reason Gods bartered the ??? 'mystic seller' was power, specifically new energy in their enclosed system. The ??? exists outside of the system/world of COTL. They appear to have access to things only gods would have use of. In exchange for God tears. I established earlier that every part of a god is a source of power in some form but there is something special about artifacts from the Old Gods. Maybe they could generate new energy within the system.

v11.

Gods of similar powers and attributes tend to congregate together. River gods could be found among lake, or ocean gods. Rain gods could be found near weather and storm gods.

[freifraufischer]

A Summary of the Current State of French Gymnastics

A) The federation is trying to force centralization by strong arming gymnasts to move to central gyms to train leaving their homes and home clubs. They've done this before disastrously a little over a decade ago and one of the institutions they want people to move to had a serial sexual assault history the investigation of which was dropped because of the age of the suspect a few years ago.

Two prominent gymnasts, Carolann Heduit and Kaylia Nemour have refused. Heduit is a national champion and one of their most consistent (if not the most consistant) French international of the last few years. Nemour was their most promising new senior. I say was because after she needed surgery and was cleared to return to training by her own doctor (after what appears to be a reasonable period of time) the French federation doctor refused to clear her without even examining her. She says it was part of an attempt to blackmail her into moving gyms. She switched to Algeria and the French federation opposed her move making her road to the Olympics for Algeria extremely difficult. Heduit has given interviews about how she and her family are essentially being harassed by officials from the French federation including weekly phone calls (including at Tokyo) pressuring her to change gyms. In retaliation her coaches are being investigated for abuse but there are no public accusations or gymnasts who have accused them as such to my knowledge. Heduit's funding has been cut off (and restored only after media attention) and she talks about having been told that her French national championship doesn't matter because the judges overscored her.

B) Meanwhile Melanie de Jesus dos Santos has--basically without explanation--been given leave to train in Texas at World Champion Center. Some people erroneously believe that this is so that she can be closer to her home the French Department of Martinique in the Caribbean. This is a misunderstanding of travel times. While Texas is geographically closer to Martinique there are no direct flights and so it would be faster for her to go from France to Martinique then from Texas. One would think the fact that her coaches in Texas being French would be why but when MDJDS went to France to compete in a world challenge cup her coaches weren't allowed to stay with her and the French National team staff decided to change some of her bars release techniques in the 10 days before competition. To say she did not perform well is an understatement.

C) The French federation also canceled (or postponed? Maybe it will happen this spring) one of the major tournaments in the country Gym Massilia in 2022 with very little warning to the members involved apparently because of an investigation into one of the organizers. Gym Massilia is a meet that goes back decades and was a fixture of the French and international gym season. I believe the French prosecutors are involved in this investigation so I tend to give it more credence then the one into Heduit/Nemour's coaches but given that they used abuse investigations to strong arm gymnasts who knows. Either way it was very disruptive to almost every elite gymnast in the country to cancel on that kind of short notice.

D) Meanwhile on the men's side the federation hired a coach who had been fired by USAG for drunkenly groping the wife of an athlete in a bar at US Championships to be the head coach of their MAG team. He lasted a year and a half and was recently fired by the French after more alcohol related incidents. In a recent article one of the athletes is quoted as saying that he constantly smelled of alcohol.

[emrys-with-a-little-star]

My theory about the ending of Good Omens S2 cause i don't agree with the coffee or the lie theory. I'm not gonna explain why i think they are wrong cause that would take too much time right now but maybe i will later. (I ended up explaining a little but about them in the end)

So i think Aziraphale does actually believe he can change something, Crowley knows nothing can be done and, as he says, both sides are toxic.

Aziraphale thinks Crowley would be happier as an angel because of how happy he was when creating the Nebula. And we never see Crowley smile like that, maybe Aziraphale does over the years but we are never shown that so for the time being i will assume Aziraphale never sees him that happy after he is cast down to hell.

Crowley wants to run away with Aziraphale, never to come back but Aziraphale has so much guilt from doing things differently from heaven's plans and falling for a demon is definitely hard for someone who his whole life has been taught that angels and heaven is good and demons and hell are bad. It's definitely easier for a demon to do some good sometimes than an angel to do anything evil cause why would you ever wanna do the bad thing. But that's exactly what Aziraphale doesn't fully understand yet: the line between those is very blurry and sometimes doing the thing that seems wrong at first is actually the correct thing to do. I'm gonna quote Crowley on this cause he said it perfectly: "When heaven ends life here on earth, it'll be just as dead as if hell ended it." Digging up graves and selling the bodies to be able to continue living, is that so wrong? And when they find out the bodies are to teach future doctors, it's now suddenly good? The line is incredibly blurry between good and evil.

Aziraphale gets told multiple times in the first season how the war is exactly what heaven wants and he doesn't think anything of it, no sudden realization that heaven might not be as good as he has been told his whole life, all he does is just try to explain his idea and keep the war from happening but not once does he blame heaven even though it is straight up made clear to him that heaven wanted the war.

The base of my theory is that the ending of season 1 doesn't get brought up again. We just not gonna talk about the fact that Crowley and Aziraphale, in heaven's and hell's point of view, are basically unkillable? It must be important, and if we now assume that both sides consider those two to be really powerful wouldn't they want them on their side? Metatron knew Crowley wouldn't take the deal, Metatron does not like Crowley, we saw how angrily he looked at him when he and Aziraphale were walking out of the bookshop. But he knew Aziraphale would be over the moon and probably take that deal cause he knows how naive and manipulated Aziraphale is. It came down to two options:

1) Crowley takes the deal and now the unkillable demon is an angel and they have two very powerful individuals on their team. And even if the point isn't the unkillable part, Crowley used to be a high level angel, still very powerful.

2) Crowley leaves, angry at Aziraphale and obviously doesn't go back to hell but Aziraphale does come back to heaven so hell doesn't have their unkillable demon but they have the unkillable angel on their side. They think Aziraphale is incredibly powerful and having him on their team is a huge advantage for the war aka the second coming aka probably the second coming of Armageddon.

Why would they get an angel who is strongly against war to basically lead the war? He would absolutely be against it.

Also emotionally unstable and vulnerable Aziraphale is much easier to control and manipulate which means him leaving Crowley makes it even easier for heaven to get him to be on their side.

Also why would they appoint a traitor who hasn't done anything to convince them that he isn't one to be the new supreme archangel. Why do they suddenly trust him now?

And if Aziraphale and Crowley stayed together, the presumably unkillable angel and demon, on earth or just not on either sides, wouldn't that make them a danger to both hell and heaven cause, as far as both sides know, both of them are very powerful.

Shortly: Heaven wants to use Aziraphale in the war against hell cause they knew Crowley wouldn't go back to hell and that given heaven an advantage, having the, as far as they know, unkillable angel in their team. If Crowley had agreed to become an angel, then they would have also had Crowley which would have given them even bigger of an advantage.

Or they have some other plan with Aziraphale and they just needed him to cut contact with Crowley and come back to heaven and they used this as kind of bait.

Also coffee theory would mean that the kiss was meaningless to Aziraphale and everything he did was because he was under the influence of the miracle. And also everythinf Aziraphale did is exactly in his character and exactly what he would do, there's no way that he would have just left heaven forever and ran away with Crowley, there's been no indication that he doesn't still trust heaven and believe in the "good side".

On the lie theory, Aziraphale is not that good at lying, he doesn't like to lie and he seemed to want to go to heaven too bad for it to be because of a threat. And the way he asks "But... my bookshop?" he isn't asking cause he is worried about the bookshop, he has doupts about leaving, he doesn't want to.

Also very important, Aziraphale doesn't end the kiss, Crowley does. I've seen some people mention that Aziraphale didn't want the kiss but he didn't pull away. Maybe i'll analyze the kiss in a future post, i have too many thoughts on that too.

[incarnateirony]

https://www.tumblr.com/incarnateirony/739600192137052160/when-jared-was-in-nashville-in-the-parking-garage

i’m not sure they were even talking about spn in general, really, in the podcast ep. especially not in the context of their conversation where earlier they were talking about 22 episode seasons and how that gave actors the room to explore and make bold choices. i think that’s what they were referring to. maybe kurt fuller meant spn, but perhaps r2 were approaching it from the context of prior.

i’ve seen certain people (even the person in the linked ask) say that maybe r2 just don’t know because they’re not involved in a revival on a producer level but that just seems… shallow. i know the aforementioned people saying that think j2 are the best besties who don’t need anyone else, but they’re also not assholes. the con circuit are all pretty close, of course they talk. and of course they’ll want to bring back the people they’re close to whose characters would make sense if they returned.

it’s always kind of fascinating to see people downplay friendships or act as though they know more simply because they watch con panels versus the people — like r2 — who actually know j2m personally and undoubtedly have conversations fans could only dream of.

it’s almost like they’re trying to balance out prequelgate. and i quote:

“Sorry but let’s be real here. R2 are in no way involved in any kind of revival process. I’m pretty confident there’s only two people actively talking about this at the moment, and that’s j2. It’s not anyone else’s project (don’t tell the hellers that tho)

I just don’t see why, when Jensen created a whole prequel without telling Jared, j2 would be discussing this with people who aren’t them (and misha I’m sure might hsve had it floated to him) and they definitely don’t watch panels lol

I think misha will have been asked whether he’s up for it and he’s likely the only person that’s been asked that”

(https://x.com/rowwyaboat/status/1746618440884863338?s=46)

Listen, I'm not one to often agree with anything even adjacent to those accounts, but I'm gonna say it.

The industry isn't run on friendship magic.

It has nothing to do with "j2 uwu". If it had fuck all to do with that we wouldn't have had goddamn Et Tugate. That's got nothing to fucking do with it.

R2 have never had that kind of power, nor have they ever been on the leading edge of this kind of news. I repeat, this is nothing to do with J2 Best Bros. Jared Padalecki made a whole ass of himself because he didn't even know, but we're gonna read the most apocalyptic interpretation that goes against what we know and then gasp and ask why our bass ackwards reading seems like such a giant shift. Because people aren't listening.

It's what I said. Then what Jared said after. It will not really be called season 16, and may not even include Supernatural in the title. Even when it returns as a franchise, if Supernatural is part of the name, it is literally not the same show more than any of the DIFFERENT STAR TREK SHOWS WITH STAR TREK IN THE NAME. It will not be built on the same formula. It will never reduce again to 2 bros and a car. It may merge things like SPN and Winchesters cast. May add new cast. It can do a lot of fucking things, whether or not it's called Supernatural: The Next Wayward Generation or not, it will literally never be the same show.

Frankly R2 sound as serious about this as when Rob lied about filming on TW in the same tone, but it doesn't matter, because there's no promise he will know anything right now. Like 0/10 people arguing about irrelevant things as if relevant to find interpretations to be shocked by while giving themselves amnesia.

[adultswim2021]

The Drinky Crow Show #5: “Whale Show” | December 1, 2008 - 12:15AM | S01E02

Well, hello there. It’s the Drinky Crow Show from AdultSwim.com. In this one, Drinky Crow has blown his brains out and needs to find them in order to figure out what happened the night before which caused him to blow his brains out. He finds his brains, and they tell him: He found a pretty gal who had him take him out to sea. Drinky was happy to oblige, thinking perhaps he’ll get his cloaca sniffed. Before he’s able to get to any kind of base a big sea monster gobbles his date up.

Drinky shares this tale of woe to a pub filled with enraptured bar flies. After a night of having his beers paid for by sympathetic-ear-havers, Drinky realizes he can profit off telling his story over-and-over. So he does, with stupid puppets and stuff on a street corner.

His rinky-dink puppet show version of his story gets some attention from a big corporate entity, who buys Drinky’s heartbreak, keeping him and Uncle Gabby on as writers. And that’s where the episode sorta falls apart somewhat. The episode goes on another bizarre flight of fancy where Drinky keeps buying black market brains to keep his scripts fresh, which are now being performed at a Sea World style theme park. The suits encourage the writing partners to appeal to teens and engage in meta-humor. Okay, so it’s episode two (or three counting the pilot [or five, if you’re watching this in production order {which is how the Adult Swim website (adultswim.com) has it}]) and we’re already doing an episode that’s about the show itself?? COME ON! 

There’s a part in this where the park show includes a paid promotion from the Navy. My guess is that it was a reference to the fact that Adult Swim often did run ads for the US military, a fact that should piss us all off more than it clearly does. The Navy is also a big enough part of the Maakies-verse that maybe I’m wrong about that, and it’s actually just a coincidence. In a vacuum, the Navy would be the most likely entity to advertise itself in this world. I don’t know, I’m just flashing back to Brak solemnly saying “be an Army of one” and frowning right now. I am denying the world my smile, and that's bad news.

This one is resolved when Drinky happens upon the brains of the sea monster that ate his girlfriend. Absorbing the monsters memories makes him realize that his girlfriend only faked her death for the insurance money. And now I no longer have to talk about this episode (which wasn’t that good, in case it’s clear). 

EPHEMERA CORNER:

Metalocalypse - Season Two DVD (December 2, 2008)

It’s important to note every single DVD release, or else I will die. 

This one didn’t advertise any extras, but hid everything as Easter Eggs. At least, that’s what I was told via a review from DVD Talk. 

MAIL BAG

Fun fact: Drinky Crow is one of the few shows the network openly doesn't like. Quoting the 16th anniversary disillusionment theater marathon: "We are fans of Tony Millionaire’s Maakies comic strip so we tried to turn it into a TV show. Turns out it made more sense as a strip. The Drinky Crow Show 2007"

Those bumps use too much sass mouth for my tastes, but I guess it’s admirable that they can be self-deprecating. I remember they said something about how they shouldn’t’ve commissioned 20 episode seasons from shows like Saul of the Mole Men. Very class LESS thing for them to do. But considering that they feed into the military-industrial complex, as noted in the above review, this should not be surprising.

[readyandnot]

ready rambles~

sovereign state season one finale

part three thoughts

spoilers under the cut

* well already the thumbnail is basically inversion- so i hoped that they wouldn’t summon in the middle of the stadium cause that’s fucking terrible.

* I CALLED IT

I FUCKING CALLED ITTTT

* STARLIGHT GETTING THEIR MEMORIES BACK LETS GOOO

* let’s talk about the memories cause omg- THEIR FIRST MEETING, it’s so crazy to see that their dynamic really isn’t any different, and avior is the same guy hence why he was sarcastic again when he pulled starlight back in- now of course his sarcasm is limited because he did fall in love with starlight BUT ITS STILL THERE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN

* next- the HEALING GOD THERES SO MANY HEALING SCENES IN THIS SERIES; i wonder how starlight got injured? they must have tried a plan that didn’t work? maybe got lost in a circle? nevertheless AVIOR STARTING TO GET SOFT WITH STARLIGHT I CANT the fact that he calls them “human” bro come on we all know you have a cuter nickname you can use LMAO; hearing the teasing and laughing from him AFTER SEEING HIM HURTING FOR SO LONG, it’s so bittersweet, i hope we can see him like this again in the future after everything

* also THE PARALLEL OF AVIOR NOT BEING COMPLETELY TRUSTING TO STARLIGHT VS WHEN STARLIGHT WASNT SURE IF THEY COULD TRUST HIM WHEN THEY GOT PULLED BACK IN I CANTTTT

* next- the kissing. i am still not over it. i have listened to this audio 5 times now, and i’m still not over this part. IM IMAGINING WHAT LED UP TO THIS AND WHAT HAPPENED AFTER AHHHHH; the teasing in between kisses. i love them so much. THE PASSION. THE LOVE YOU CAN TELL THEY FEEL FOR EACH OTHER.

* then, the “confession” scene i’ll call it; i hc that this is right after that previous memory (cause let’s be honest that was getting hot and heavy-) but i’d like to think after all that they talked about it and that’s where this memory comes in. HES SO SOFT FOR STARLIGHT, i’m just imagining him grabbing their face and just ADMIRING THEM. he’s such a romantic holy shit

* THE FINAL MEMORY OF THEM TALKING ABOUT THE COFFEE SHOP. OMG. the “starlight, look at me, please.” gets me every damn time. his comfort is soft and so beautiful it truly makes me so happy. i love this relationship so much.

* “i love you. so much.” STARLIGHT LOVES YOU TOO I PROMISE

* also- can we just appreciate the piano music for a sec? BECAUSE ITS SO SIMPLE YET SO BEAUTIFUL. i love using the music as another form of storytelling, it’s such a nice addition and doesn’t take away from anything, i love and have loved it so much. it’s so calming in a way. i wonder what music he used…

* THEYRE HOMEEEEEEE LETS GO; to all you non believers… haha :)

* THE DISBELIEF, THE REUNITING AND HUGGING, THE SIGHS AND SHUDDERS OF RELIEF- chef’s kiss, a wonderful reuniting

* SO STARLIGHT WANTED AVIOR TO GO THROUGH THEIR MIND- the parallel of avior telling them he could use that as a trick- BUT THEM SUGGESTING IT NOW OMG; i mean it makes sense, i honestly would’ve done the same because one- i would want him to see what i saw and two- it is really hard to explain and quote like it’s nothing so it’s a perfectly valid way to explain

* THE HESITATION. THE CONSENT. TAKE NOTES CUTIE.

* “behind this wall, come on.” I IMAGINE HE GRABBED THEIR HAND AND PULLED THEM UP AHHHH

* avior baby i’m sorry you’re overwhelmed but you had to see that. THE FACT THAT HE KNOWS THEY HAVE THEIR MEMORIES BACK, I CAN SEE THE SHOCK AND REALIZATION ON HIS FACE

* “and how do you feel about that?”

* [what i think starlight said]

“like this…” AND GOES TO KISS HIM COME ON ITS PERFECT

* THE KISSINGGGGG SUCH UTTER PERFECTION- THE MELTING INTO IT FUCK

* listen avior, priorities are priorities- kissing your partner after so long before coming to terms with your mission is definitely a top priority. i don’t blame you one bit lol

* “i’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea that you don’t fucking hate me!”

* “i never hated you.”

* so…. it happened on new year’s eve. I KNEW THE THUMBNAIL HAD TO DO WITH INVERSION

* also the fact that they were there for over two years and it was only less than one hour in the real world??? can someone do that math cause i cant-

* THE SIMPLE THINGS LIKE A DARK ALLEY AVIOR I GET IT ITS OKAY

i hate to see characters cry, but this time it’s understandable, and it’s not like a heartbreak cry, it’s a relief. something that avior and starlight needed- relief.

* THEY COULD HEAR THE PORTAL OPEN??? THEY CANT BE THAT CLOSE; AVIOR DO NOT GET ANY CLOSER I DONT WANT YOU TO BE LIKE GAVIN

* and then they stopped hearing the screaming, because that’s how quick the decision was made by david. holy shit. it sounded like it was forever because we heard everyone’s perspectives when in reality it was less than a minute, and we finally saw that. that’s crazy.

* “too late to stop this tide.” SO WHAT ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO DO NOW???

* “we just traded one hell for another” WAIT ITS NOT YOUR FAULT COME ON NOW

wow, all i can say is wow. this series is something i did not expect i would come to love so much when i first listened- but it had me hooked from the first audio. now i was one of the luckier ones and got to catch up before the “confession” audio. but i still had to wait and feel everyone’s pain of the wait LOL

but it was so worth it. getting to this point to where we’re almost caught up in the current timeline is worth it. seeing the character development slowly going from slow burn to not and reuniting was worth the wait.

avior has definitely risen up in my ranks for the characters because his development and arc is a beautiful thing. we saw him at his lowest and highest moments, we saw him make mistakes, learn and love. he is a character that i’ve grown to love and i’m sure other people have as well.

starlight. starlight is truly one of my favorite listeners at this point- they’re such an intriguing person, no wonder avior fell for them LMAO, but they have this personality that’s infectious and a soul that’s admirable; they are a person who is stubborn in the best way possible and it’s been amazing seeing how they dealt with the situation. and how they are with avior back then, when they got back in, and how they are now!

i’m so excited for season two, i have a lot of theories and ideas- for example, how they could possibly meet people working for project meridian, or helping take down closeknit with sunshine and elliott (maybe even sweetheart?), and maybe even colliding with vega and warden at some point! there’s so many options and ways this can go, and i’m so thrilled to see that they’ll do it together.

thank you redacted for such a wonderful series and i speak for everyone when i say that we cannot wait for what will go on in season two.

what’s next- now i believe we would get more updates with the balance after the avior season one finale! that’s going to be something- just back to back angst WE DO NOT HAVE A BREAK LOL, but i’m so excited for the balance and the upcoming simpler videos! let’s see what the next lineup has in store :)

ps- vote for milo for march redactness HE DESERVES TO WIN OKAY SAM ALREADY WON

here’s to the believers o7 thanks for reading <3

[retrorealityrecap]

Jersey Shore S1

Episode 1: "A New Family"

Characters introduced: Pauly D (29), Nicole "Snooki" (21), Mike "The Situation" (27), Sam "Sammi Sweetheart" (22), Vinny (21), Jenni "JWoww" (23), Ronnie (23) and Angelina (23).

The first time I watched this season, the original run had already ended but wow. Seeing everyone at the beginning is such a trip, especially knowing how it all plays out over the next like two decades!

They are unbelievably tanned omg.

I still want to spend a summer at a cool shore house tbh BUT with people I know and like. Although, I probably would've enjoyed this set up when I was in my early 20s.

When Danny is describing their duties he said "stocking" but I straight up heard "stalking" 😂 it felt right but kinda weird that he'd just say it out loud.

On first impression, Snooki was and still is the only one that I liked. I think I just felt bad for her and also everyone is just worse in comparison. The best in a bad bunch? Maybe.

So on the first night, everyone agrees Snooki is drama because she gets pretty smashed all on her own. Also because she jump into the hot tub with the guys in her underwear. Jenni is also in the hot tub but everyone is scandalised that Snooki is in there with the guys.

That said, my girl was definitely very sloppy for a first night with a new group. Really big mistake on her part but you live and you learn.

I can sympathise with drinking a lot cause you're anxious in a new situation with new people BUT I suspect this was about Snooki being the center of attention and just falling back on what works.

She does note a lot in the first few episodes that she's used to being the centre of attention and that she likes it that way.

The biggest thing that jumps out to me is how Snooki keeps repeating that she's not used to NOT being the centre of attention. I think that bothers her more than the feeling of being iced out.

The most surprising thing is not that Mike was into Sammie but that she was feeling him back. They even hold hands on the first night out.

Just very very weird.

Also Vinny commenting that she's not the hottest girl and he was expecting hotter - boy bye! He also immediately switched rooms rather than share with Jenni from first sight.

Vinny then says JWoww is a "shady bitch" for not mentioning that she has a boyfriend, which makes me think he was feeling her a little bit.

Over halfway through the episode now and Snooki apologizes to everyone before dinner. It seems to smooth things over with the group. Then Mike and Pauly literally go fishing for girls on the boardwalk- I am appalled that the girls actually came over after being whistled at from a rooftop by strange guys with a camera crew??

Interestingly enough, the boys have zero issues with these strange women jumping into the hot tub in their underwear or nothing at all.

So wtf is up with the double standard? None of them are into Snooki so it's an issue when she does it??

Anyway, JWoww is disgusted that 29 year old Pauly is hooking up with 20 year olds. YES!!

While that's happening, Snooki assumes (from the other room) that everyone is upset about her and decides she's going to leave. It's not clear to me why she thinks that because they're yelling about girls PLURAL so I think she was in her head.

I just noticed they're calling Angelina "Jolie" and like ....PLEASE 😂

I absolutely love everyone's attitude, they each genuinely believe they're god's gift to the Jersey Shore. It's pretty amazing. Mike is the biggest culprit though, it's really delusional.

Also, why do they keep calling her Snickers? Just can't be bothered to call her the right name.

Notable moments: Pauly packing a salon's worth of hair products.

Notable Quotes:

"What can you say when someone pretty much looks like Rambo with their shirt off?"

" I'm like a praying mantis, after I have sex with a guy I tear his head off."

"I can't be with a girl who doesn't look prettier than me."

"I'm the Kim Kardashian of Staten Island baby!"

"Let's get filthy, creepy and weird."

"I don't want pukey breath on me."

"My only rule is never fall in love at the Jersey Shore." - Ron